Nancy's Notes

Sometimes I think it is just amazing that my sons turned out to be such wonderful men, loving husbands, and awesome fathers. After all, when they were little boys, long before they started school, I read to them at bedtime or any chance we could get. And without a doubt, the most favorite books in our little home library were written by Dr. Seuss. In fact, we have quite a collection of Dr. Seuss books because we belonged to a book club, and for quite a while, we got a new book or two in the mail every month. It was fun waiting for the next book to arrive. Never once did I think I was implanting “racist imagery” in their young minds by reading these books to them.

Recently, Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced that six of the late author’s books will no longer be published due to “insensitive and racist imagery.” I had no idea what they were talking about. “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the company said. “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families.”

I think Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, must be squirming in his grave. I will never believe that it was his intent to mock a particular race of people, or denigrate a person of color. To me, his books are “inclusive” by showing people that look different than me. Yes, his books include caricatures and stereotypes: an Asian person holding chopsticks, barefooted Africans wearing grass skirts, and so on. Before he died in 1991, Seuss actually altered some of the drawings to make them less objectionable; he must have been hearing mumblings and grumblings. In the Asian illustration, for example, he removed the figure’s pigtail, changed its yellow skin tone, and altered the accompanying text to read “Chinese” instead of “Chinaman.”

Once someone throws a flag crying “foul” on what they think is racist or derogatory, the subject is done, there’s no debate, the censors win. They don’t suggest just striking a word here or a picture there; they want to obliterate the piece of literature altogether, so nobody sees it. These are the people who fear that children who read Dr. Seuss will become racists themselves.

But Americans don’t want to be told what they can and can’t read. Generally a piece that’s banned will have just the opposite effect. Case in point: A few days after the announcement that six Dr. Seuss books would no longer be published, four of them shot into Amazon’s list of top 20 best sellers. All told, 13 of the 20 books were by—you guessed it—Dr. Seuss.

In all my years of reading Dr. Seuss, never did I think any of the pictures or words portrayed racism. And even if I had, it would have provided a teachable moment to my kids that children (and grownups) come in all shapes and sizes, with different skin colors, hair colors and eye colors, but they are still people just like you and me. Some people speak differently than we do, in a language that we don’t understand. Some people talk differently, walk differently, dress differently, wear their hair differently, and so on; but they are still people just like you and me.

I don’t want to be told what I can and can’t read, and I imagine you feel the same. Most of all, I think all of us want to be able to make up our own minds instead of allowing someone else to do it for us. Banning Dr. Seuss books seems about as silly as a skinny black-and-whitecat, wearing a tall red-and-white-striped hat, riding a unicycle on a purple-and-blue-polka-dot mat, eating drippy green ice cream while chasing a gnat.